San Diego must seal deal for 2017 America’s Cup

It’s time to add another wonderful chapter to San Diego’s history. The local team negotiating with America’s Cup officials to bring the 35th edition of sailing’s greatest showcase back to San Diego in 2017 reports that it has established that the city has the necessary logistics to support the event and to host the crews and visitors it would attract.

Now the team needs to establish that the event would be commercially successful, says SEA San Diego board member Troy Sears. He’s been working with the Unified Port of San Diego, which in February gave the go-ahead to seek the host role and would be the government body contracting with the America’s Cup organization.

The push to cross this second hurdle began last week with an event at the San Diego Yacht Club hosted by Ed Plant of Harborside Refrigerated Services, a major port tenant. Sears said it brought together port officials, Mayor Kevin Faulconer, business executives and leaders of the Regional Chamber of Commerce and the San Diego Economic Development Corp., who were excited about the economic benefits and the international attention the event would bring.

“San Diego hasn’t hosted an America’s Cup in nearly 20 years and bringing it back to San Diego could be great for our city,” the mayor said in an email. “This effort would be a phenomenal opportunity to showcase San Diego to the rest of the world.”

San Diego hosted the America’s Cup in 1988, 1992 and 1995. Races were staged on the Pacific Ocean off Point Loma. This time, races would be in San Diego Bay, with prime viewing available from Broadway Pier, reflecting America’s Cup’s new emphasis on “stadium”-type viewing for spectators.

Sears can’t talk about rivals also bidding to host the 2017 event. But media reports have cited San Francisco, which hosted the 2013 America’s Cup; Chicago; and Bermuda. Oracle Team USA won the 2013 event against a New Zealand team after a thrilling comeback and defends its title in 2017. Its CEO, five-time America’s Cup winner Russell Coutts, is enthused about San Diego. In February, he told Associated Press, “It’d be a really good venue. ... I think the racecourse in San Diego, quite frankly, sets up better than San Francisco.”

America’s Cup officials are expected to pick two finalists in June and name the winner in September. If San Diego is chosen, it might also host preliminary races in 2015 and 2016 to determine the international team taking on Oracle Team USA.

And come 2017, the city would be a hub of global attention. The broadcasts of the 34th America’s Cup last year in San Francisco drew an estimated 957 million viewers in nearly 200 nations around the world.

This would be a wonderful — and efficient — way to showcase San Diego. And it would also have special resonance for the local sailing community. On the short list of the greatest feats in San Diego sports history is the San Diego Yacht Club’s three victories in the America’s Cup.

Hosting the America’s Cup in 2017 would be another great accomplishment.